Last year, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Jason Rapert, a Christian nationalist activist and former state senator, to the state library board. Rapert is a zealously anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice former lawmaker who now runs the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a Christian nationalist organization that last year had House Speaker Mike Johnson deliver the keynote address at its annual gala. The goal of the NACL is to “take authority” over every level of government across the nation and one day put one of its members in the White House.
Rapert, who last year credited his NACL organization with providing model anti-trans legislation to the Arkansas legislature that eventually became law, has a long history of ranting about "woke leftists" and the "LGBTQ cult" and bragging of his efforts to fight "the people that are putting the queer books into your school libraries and trying to groom these children into homosexuality."
Predictably, Rapert has focused on this mission since joining the Arkansas state library board and it does not appear to be endearing him to his fellow board members, at least according to a recent episode of Rapert's "Save The Nation" program in which he complained of experiencing a "hostile work environment" because he is "a Christian white male."
"Many of you know that a few months ago I was appointed to the Arkansas state library board by governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders," Rapert said. "Governor Sanders called upon me [because] there's a problem in Arkansas—right here in some of our small towns—with people that have gotten so blinded from the truth and so eat up with their liberalism, their secularism, that they would absolutely defend putting smut, pornographic, obscene material on shelves of libraries for children."
"I can't believe I'm having to even sit here and talk to you about this," Rapert added. "So, I was asked to serve on the Arkansas state library board. And you know what? The very first meeting that I served on there— I'm the only white male on the board—and I believe they've created a hostile work environment for a Christian white male on the board because they absolutely can't stand it that I'm speaking up to say, 'We need to do something about these nasty books.'"
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
